Yesterday was an amazing day, photographically speaking. Jessica (pictured below) shared some feedback she got from a friend who checked out some of my other portrait work, and had the following to say:

“There is a kind of love in his photography that is sensitive and charitable to the subject, but in a number of portraits on his blog, the you can see brokenness or sadness in their expressions.”

When I read this, I felt here was someone whom I’ve never met, who understands what I have tried to achieve in my portraits, to show humanity, including all its glorious imperfections. I was thrilled to say the least.

Jessica and her friend have also been discussing Canadian philosopher Jean Vanier, and she shared with me this quote from his work Community and Growth:

“In any case, community is not about perfect people. It is about people who are bonded to each other, each of whom is a mixture of good and bad, darkness and light, love and hate. Community is the only earth in which each can grow without fear towards the liberation of the forces of love which are hidden in them, but there can be growth only if we recognize the potential, and this will never unfold if we prevent people from discovering and accepting themselves as they are, with their gifts and their wounds. They have the right to be rotters, to have their own dark places and corners of envy and even hatred in their hearts. These jealousies and insecurities are part of our wounded nature. That is our reality. We have to learn to accept them and to live with them without drama, and to walk towards liberation, gradually knowing ourselves to be forgiven.”

A great quote that really resonates with me, and the fact that someone connected my photography with this philosophy is amazing 🙂

Pentax 67 camera, 105mm/f2.4 lens, Tri-X film exposed at EI 800, developed in Diafine 3+3
Post work done in Lightroom and Nik Efex